Star hurdler Liu to go under the knife

Liu Xiang will head to the United States next month for surgery to fix his injured Achilles tendon, local media reported yesterday ending weeks of speculation on the fate of China's world champion hurdler.

Liu's camp is still awaiting a final recommendation from US doctors on how to treat the injury that forced the track and field star to withdraw from the Beijing Games in August but a decision has already been made, an unnamed official from the Chinese Athletics Administrative Center told popular Internet portal Sohu.com.

"The final consultation from the US doctors will be sent to China next week but, no matter what it says, our plan to go through with the surgery will not change," the source was quoted as having said. "The most important thing right now is to perform the operation as soon as possible."